Reposted….
Posted 2/22/2013
Release no. 13-009
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Public Affairs
ST. PAUL, Minn. – There were more than 2,800 lockages at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District’s Lock and Dam 2, in Hastings, Minn., during the 2012 navigation season.
The total lockages, 2,828, included 1,156 from commercial navigation; 1,648 recreational boat lockages and 24 additional lockages from government watercraft or a similar group. There were 3,249 recreational vessels that were locked through. Typically, the lock operator will allow multiple recreation boats within the chamber during a lock.
The commercial navigation industry transported 6,894,482 tons of commodities through the lock during the season. During the 2011 navigation season, 6,735,253 tons of cargo passed through the lock.
The Motor Vessel Show Me State was the last tow to pass through lock Nov. 28. The season opened
March 17, 2012.
Navigation statistics fluctuate from year to year, depending on the weather, river flows and the length of the navigation season. The St. Paul District maintains a 9-foot navigation channel and 13 locks and dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa. Keeping this system open is vital to the nation’s economy. In 2010, 16.2 million tons of commodities were shipped on the Mississippi River within the St Paul District’s area of operation, including 8 million tons of grain grown in the Upper Midwest. The industries making these shipments saved nearly $384 million by using the inland waterways instead of overland shipping methods.
The Corps of Engineers constructed Lock and Dam 2 in 1930 and reconstructed it in 1948. Its last major rehabilitation occurred in 2006.
The nearly 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2011 $175 million budget, nearly 2,800 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $271 million to the national economy. For more information, see http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
